Wherefore Art Thou?
by Burden of the Butterflies
Summary: Hideki Motosuwa is a 19 year old virgin, trying to survive at the prestigious Mihara Academy. But when he finds the dean’s daughter tied up in the garbage, things get very interesting in his secondrate life.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:**_ Wherefore Art Thou?_

**Author:** Burden of the Butterflies

**Genre:** Anime -- Chobits

**Subgenre:** Romance/Tragedy

**Summary:** (Begins directly after the series' end) Chi had finally found him...her "someone just for her". Hideki loved her, and he always would. But only a fortnight after the two have proclaimed their forbidden and undying devotion to one another, with the evening of Shimbo and Takako's wedding, it is discovered that Fate has much crueler plans in store.

**Rated: R** for language, sexual content and violence

**Note:** Character death in upcoming chapter. AU in future chapters.

**Disclaimer: Copyright Burden of the Butterflies, 2005. All rights reserved.**

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Wherefore Art Thou?

_By Burden of the Butterflies_

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**.C h a p t e r 01.  
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Hideki knew he shouldn't have been flattered by the fact that he had been invited to the wedding. Shimbo was his best friend after all. Even with the miles and months that had separated them since Chi's abduction and recovery, that truth had outlived nearly all else. The two had been inseparable since grade school, and no runaway marriage was about to interrupt the "bond" the two shared. A sort of linkage of the heart that made it nearly impossible for them to stay separate, whether that be through true confrontation with one another or simply speaking via Video Phone. So, really, he shouldn't have been surprised or glad to be asked to come. On all accounts, the only time Shimbo had ever withheld any information from him was about his relationship with Takako.

And -- he realized in hindsight -- being the law-abiding citizen he was, it probably wasn't very reasonable to see him so eager as to take part in illegal activities such as unlawful and private engagements as this.

Still, he assured himself, fingering the glistening crystal of the beautiful ring dangling from a keychain in his back pocket, there was nothing to really be afraid of. He was proud of those two for loving one another despite the circumstances; happy for their courageousness about the whole matter.

He noticed Chi watching him with those gorgeous yet questioning and curious amber eyes of hers and looked back into them with a smile, reaching down to stroke a silky ivory strand of hair away from her face which brightened in unison with his. The picturesque innocence of her warm smile nearly dazed him and he felt any insecurities school had generated only a few hours before melt away and he grinned, enjoying the blissfulness of it and cradling her fingers within his own with fondness.

"Hideki is happy," Chi said the corners of her mouth uplifted and joyous.

Said nineteen-year-old felt his smile widen as well. "Yeah. It's great that they're finally getting to go through with it. I don't think I've ever seen Shimbo so happy! Ms. Shimizu either. It seems like they really love each other...I can't believe I'm actually going to be the best man at a wedding!" The excitement of it all had really gotten his mood up, and he couldn't help but chuckle with unsuppressed glee as the two of them walked down the sidewalk, back towards the apartment complex.

Chi blinked quizzically. "Wedding?" she said, experimenting with the syllables.

"Oh! You don't know what a wedding is, do you Chi?" Hideki said, realizing he hadn't really explained to her what it all meant. "Hm...well...a wedding is a sort of ceremony between two people when they've decided that they love each other. After a wedding, the two people are called 'married', and they're seen as a pair by the government. They're pretty much..._officially _seen as lovers." Hideki groaned inwardly, knowing that he was making this whole explanation dangerously simplistic.

But then, what could you do? How else would you explain marriage to a person so pure as Chi?

He had paused for a moment, watching Chi to be sure she was taking this in, and she answered his gaze with a deep nod, indicating that she absorbing this all and paying him rapt attention.

"A wedding is something that two people invite their friends to and stuff...kind of a ritual to celebrate that those two people have agreed that they want to spend their lives together."

"So Hideki's friend and Ms. Shimizu want to spend their lives together?"

"Yeah, I guess," Hideki said, regaining his soft smile. He watched her in silence for a few minutes, as she seemed to ponder something, fingering the ring on her left forefinger, identical to the one on Hideki's key ring. She was very quiet, and he allowed her time to think on her next question, taking in all of her serene beauty and imprinting it in his mind as much as he could, etching forever this brief moment of glamour: her calve length, tusk-white hair; her pale, soft skin; her dress, a shade of black that accented her tea-colored eyes, with a deeply cut flowery sort of collar.

Oh, how he loved her in all of her entirety. His special someone just for him.

He felt her fingers intertwined with his and smiled.

"Does...Hideki want to spend his life together with Chi?"

Her question startled him, as most of the well-thought-out ones did, but he recovered quickly, knowing the answer as he massaged her flawless palm and his cheeks flushed lightly.

"Yes Chi. I do want to spend my life with you. I want to be with you forever."

Her smile was absolutely priceless.

* * *

"Hideki? Is this good?" 

The morning was young, crisp and chilly, and as Plum dragged Kotoko about the condo to do small and menial tasks, Chi presented herself, fully dressed and stunning in a pale, freesia-colored dress, provided courtesy Ms. Hibiya. Her hair cascaded gracefully down her back in pretty rivets, the silver choker around her neck matching the silver construction of her ring. The dress was glorious: white excepting the lavender hems and frilly lace of the v-neck collar, which revealed an amazing amount of cleavage; her bust was supported by pale-lavender ribbon which was laced down the back of the dress and tied at the base of the large, flowing skirt, full and silky; her sleeves, also silken, were high, perched upon her shoulders, and very big. She wore knee-high socks and buckle shoes with very little heel, as well as a pair of lacey gloves upon her hands.

"Yeah! You look **great** Chi!" Hideki exclaimed, flushing despite himself. It was no lie...she was an object of perfectly balanced splendor. He tweaked his red bow-tie slightly to the right (it simply wouldn't sit straight) and hitched his suspenders up a little higher. Somehow, his landlady had managed to scrounge up a tux for him to wear for the wedding this afternoon.

Sometimes, Ms. Hibiya really managed to surprise him.

Quite alot of the time now that he actually thought about it.

Lifting his black jacket from where it was hanging on the coat rack he glanced about. "Plum? Kotoko?" he called, and the two scampered into view. Well...actually, one scampered into view. The other bobbed along, Plum's enthusiastic hand clutched about her miniscule wrist like an iron cuff, looking as if she might die from the hyper-activity of it all.

Hideki stifled a chuckle and converted it into a good-natured grin. "Ready to go, you two?"

"Ready for take-off Master!" Plum yelled in near-spastic reply.

Hideki let himself laugh then, extending his palm so that she could race up its length to settle upon his shoulder. He stood after both had hitched themselves upon him (quite begrudgingly on Kotoko's behalf) and flashed a large smile in Chi's direction.

"Okay Chi! Let's go!"

She returned his smile and immediately took his hand in hers as the two practically danced down the stairs.

* * *

Ms. Hibiya was sweeping in the courtyard as they exited the airy stairwell, the October sky clear, blue and cloudless as she hummed a wordless waltz she could not name, the straws of her broom scraping against the smooth cement of the yard. Her ebony, wave-filled tresses flitted about her as she glanced up and greeted them all with a cheerful, heart-warming smile of small but charming proportions. 

"Good morning Hideki! Chi, dear!" she called, pausing in her sweeping, eyes curling up in merry crescents.

"Morning, Ms. Hibiya!" Hideki responded, grin doubling at the cheeriness of his landlord. "Good morning!" Chi chimed from beside him, bowing deeply when they got close enough. He laughed quietly to himself for the umpteenth time, happy with the world and full of the excitement his best friend's wedding brought to them all.

"And where are you headed to this morning?" Ms. Hibiya asked, good-naturedly.

"Chi and Hideki are going to Shimbo's wedding!" Chi replied, closing her eyes in a happy smile similar to that of the landlady's.

"That's right Chi!" Hideki laughed, grinning widely and patting her hair lovingly.

"Oh, how nice!" Ms. Hibiya smiled. "Do give the bride and groom my regards."

"We will Ms. Hibiya," Hideki said, grinning widely. "And thankyou so much for the tuxedo and the outfit for Chi! I really don't know how I can repay you--"

"Oh, don't worry about it dear! They looked so much better on you, anyway. Just some old handy-me-downs, really," she giggled in return.

"T-Thanks so much Ms. Hibiya!" Hideki said with a shocked look on his face, making for the gate. She did so much for both of them...what a great landlady he had.

"You're very welcome. Have a good day!"

Chi smiled happily and waved her good-bye with the hand that was not clutched about Hideki's. "Have a good day!" she said, automatically repeating one of the first phrases her "someone just for her" had ever taught her.

* * *

There was a sharp knock at the door, and Minoru Kokubunji looked up from where he had been fiddling with his long tie. He shouldn't be so bothered with it, he knew -- he was very used to dressing like this -- but it irked him in his near-perfectionist ways that it refused to sit evenly. He blew at the dark bangs hanging in his face and listened for a voice to clarify who it was that wanted into his room. 

"Mr. Minoru? Sir?"

Ah, Yuzuki.

"I'm here. Come in, Yuzuki."

She entered, her boots thumping softly against the floor, light periwinkle tresses free of their normal braids and floating down her slender back. Her dress was high-waisted and fabulous, a lively sort of charcoal ensemble, its bodes full and feathery like that of a ballroom gown. The top half was silken with a drawstring neckline, form-fitting as hell, sleeveless except for two detached cuffs around the persocoms lithe wrists. She smiled at him, hands folded customarily in front of her waist.

"Are you ready, Mr. Minoru?" She stepped forward, still smiling, and answered her own question by straightening his tie. She reerrected herself, then, and fetched his coat from where it was hung just inside his closet as the middle-schooler buttoned the cuffs of his starched white shirt. With her return she helped him get it on, and he stood, beginning to fiddle at his tie once more.

"You look wonderful, Yuzuki," he said shortly as they made their way out the door of his mansion and into the beautiful autumn morning, not really bothering to look at her it was so offhand a comment, such an obvious thing to say.

"Thank you, Mr. Minoru."

Minoru helped himself onto one side of the stretch-limo's adjoined passenger seat as Yuzuki followed suit on the opposite side. He leaned forward to speak with the chauffer, a small-busted persocom in a driver's uniform, dark ebony hair held up in a tight bun to the rear of her head.

"We're picking up Motosuwa," the young genius ordered, and with a slight nod from the black-haired "woman", they were down the drive.

* * *

Moushako eyed the monitor, deep indigo orbs flashing contemptuously. Why did humans force themselves to work with such obsolete materials as these? She brushed her long, grown-out bangs of dark chocolate away from her tanned face, a nervous habit, the only small glitch in her personality files, the only thing about her that was not derived entirely from program as it was far bygone times that she had suppressed so hard they had shattered in the back of her database. 

She was dressed rather plainly, for one with such a sinister mission on the "brain". Her long, brunette curls were pulled into a low ponytail in the middle of her back, held with a thick red ribbon; she wore a jean miniskirt and a faded, but tiny, blouse cut at the mid-elbows. The ankle-strap heels on her feet shone of black leather.

However, the virus logged e-mail, finally rigged to make an example of her and all others like her for the liars who possessed them, revealed the four-year-old persocom's true intentions as she gave it a once over, deciding that the deed was finally as well as done.

There was truly no turning back now.

She sighed, relishing her existence for only one moment longer, before bringing the cursor over the "send" button and clicking it with surprising agility, and very little remorse, considering the horror she had just unleashed upon each and every persocom within the Japanese border.

* * *

Hideki found himself looking around the limousine's expansive interior once more, in absolute awe. Minoru smirked at him, obviously amused at his reaction. "You act as if you've lived in squalor your entire life, Mr. Motosuwa," he chuckled, watching his friend from where he was seated beside Yuzuki, on the opposite side of the aisle. "Have you _never_ ridden in a limousine before?" 

"Aw, shaddup!" Hideki grouched, good-naturedly. "This is how the other half lives and, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not one of the 'other half'! I'm a college student with no money for anything! (And I rode a limo once when I was seven, anyway!)" He kept looking around, impressed.

Yuzuki giggled lightly at the inquiring expression on Chi's face as she watched her someone just for her, caught up in the giddiness of it all. They were going to a wedding, for gosh sake! Said persocom smiled over at her friend, and Plum, who had gone unnoticed from where she was sitting with a stoic Kotoko on Hideki's shoulder, began dancing about, performing flamenco with vigor as she went into screensaver mode, making Yuzuki laugh ever harder.

Suddenly, the blue-haired persocom's breathing hitched unnaturally, and Minoru cast her a surprised glance. Her face seemed to drain of all color as her eyes went wide, blank and full of static, Chi, Kotoko and Plum seeming to go into the same sort of trance in unison. Hideki rushed to put a hand on his persocom's shoulder (she was beginning to slump forward in an eerie sort of dazedness), yelling her name in great dismay just as the car swerved. Minoru darted to see what the matter was, and got a clear look at the chauffer 'com, collapsed against the wheel.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the 'coms -- all five of them -- snapped back to attention, sitting bolt upright as if struck by something terribly sharp. Chi glanced around, disoriented and Yuzuki put a tentative hand to her mouth. Both of the smaller laptops simply sat there, blinking as if trying to remember what had gone on in the past fifteen seconds, and the driver jerked up, just in time to slam on the breaks and avoid rear-ending the car in front of them as they came to a stoplight.

Chi looked up at Hideki, questioning at his hands on her shoulders. "Hideki?" she said innocently. "What is wrong? Why are your hands on Chi's shoulders?"

Hideki stared at her shell-shocked and undeniably frightened. His wide palms trembled where they were situated on Chi's delicate collarbone. He could feel the softness of her warm, supple skin beneath his thumbs and stared into her quizzical face in amazement. What...what was that? What had just happened! Chi had...it was as if all of the persocoms had all shut down, all at once. What...what the hell could've done a thing like that! He caught a glimpse of a fretful looking Minoru out of the corner of his eye and then looked back at Chi.

"A-Are you alright Chi?" he stammered, afraid of what the answer might be.

Chi looked almost surprised at the question. "Yes Hideki. Chi is alright."

Hideki caught his breath slowly, as if settling down from a five-kilometer-long sprint. Something cold had flared up, deep in the pit of his stomach seeing her like that. He was vaguely reminded of the time he had found Chi on the top of a lamppost in the middle of the city, surrounded by unresponsive persocoms and quite unresponsive herself. He had pushed desperately through the crowd of agitated 'com owners just in time to catch her as she fell from her perch, the same feeling at the back of his neck. He had been so frightened, seeing her like that, so scared for reasons he could not explain. Even now, feeling the same way, he couldn't explain what the uncomfortable sensation was. All he knew was that it was so much worse than anything he had ever felt ever before, and he definitely didn't want to feel it ever again.

He never wanted to see Chi's eyes go blank like that...

However, the fact that she believed herself to be alright reassured him. Chi was an excellent judge as to her own health and wellbeing, and had never been wrong as to how she was feeling. His eyes softened as the emotion recoiled itself and went back to sleep where it lay in the pit of his stomach, a dormant snake, and his grip on her loosened. He lurched forward and pulled her into a tight embrace, though, just to be sure.

Chi smiled into his neck, somewhat surprised by the unexpected caress, but grateful nonetheless, wrapping her own arms around his back.

Kotoko and Plum, forgotten and dislodged from Hideki's shoulder in the "fray" of sorts, took refuge and settled themselves on the seat cushion nearest the small color television.

* * *

They arrived at the chapel with a half an hour until the ceremony, and clambered out of the car as a large, clearly conspicuous group. Minoru acknowledged the driver with a curt nod and instructions for her to wait for them until the ceremony was over. She rolled up and the window and was gone without a word. Hideki watched her go and then felt Chi tug at his hand and turned to look over the courtyard. 

It was a glorious set up. They were in the foothills, Hideki noted, a beautiful field of green grass stretched out in front of them, despite the fact that it was nearing November. There was a stone pathway, lined with a few wooden tables leading beneath a grape-vine entangled patio roof, of sorts. The roof actually jutted out from the front of the church itself, which stood tall, its towers graceful above the rural landscape. Just before the doors, there was a pool of white marble, full of clean, clear water and a huge amount of perfectly golden goldfish, all swimming about contentedly in intricate patterns. There were a few white lilies adorning the sides of the pool, among which sat many of the already arrived guests, many of them Hideki's classmates from cram school.

All in all, it was dazzling.

"**Wow**," a vigilant Plum breathed in his ear, eyes large and smile wide.

'Yeah,' Hideki thought in silent agreement. '_Wow_.'

There was very little doubt Shimbo and Takako had put this all together themselves. After signing the divorce papers with Mr. Shimuzu (despite the fact that it wasn't her name any longer, Hideki still addressed her as such) what had they to lose? Shimbo had already proposed, after all, so all there was to do, really, was plan. And plan they obviously had. The band was already there, playing an exquisite rendition of _Sweet Chariot_. The guests were well mannered, chatting idly amongst themselves and not disturbing any of the so-obviously-delicate decorations, nor the food which was in a class of its own. Various employees scuttled this way and that through the crowd as the boys approached with their persocoms, and Hideki was nearly run over by a few of them. Twice. And profusely apologized to, in an accent he could hardly understand. Twice.

Chi seemed to be nearly impressed as he was, staring about in wonder and slight bewilderment, attractive amber eyes absorbing every detail of everything there was to be absorbed. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes. She felt for Hideki's hand every time she felt herself get so distracted that she feared she might slip off and find herself away from him, lost in the crowd. She was not frightened, really, because every time she checked his hand was there, gripping hers calmly, defensively, protecting her from drifting away.

She smiled, grateful to know that she could depend on her someone just for her not to let go.

Minoru looked around, finding everything to his liking and staying very close to Yuzuki despite himself. It truly was a very well-planned event...there was no doubt in his mind that everything would go smoothly. And yet...what had happened in the limo only a few minutes before troubled him deeply. He had never seen anything truly like that. Certainly, when Yuzuki had gone all hazy-eyed that once...ah, but that was under such different circumstances! Chi had been altering the thought processes and internal data of the persocoms around her...yes, that was much, much different than what had just happened.

Yuzuki had just...switched off. Temporarily but at complete random. In fact, all of the persocoms in the car had been affected, how ever briefly. Hideki and he hadn't felt anything and yet...they had all switched off at exactly the same time, with no warning whatsoever. There had been no signs as to what was about to happen, Minoru knew, no matter how many times he analyzed and reanalyzed his memories. And now...they were all acting as if nothing had happened.

But...a persocom couldn't really go through that and then be absolutely fine? No...that would be far too simple...surely _something_ had been affected...

He looked up as his nose was introduced quite promptly to the fabric of a tuxedo jacket. Hideki had been jostled a few people away from him while he had been lost in thought, and Yuzuki was watching him with his face buried in the tailcoat of some strangers clothing. He ducked between a pair of stooges and met up with them once more, taking the liberty to excuse himself for being so lost in thought.

"'sall right," Hideki nodded obligingly, giving him a thoughtful look. "I wonder...I probably have somewhere to go, huh?"

"You **are** the best man, aren't you?" a familiar voice said from behind them, throwing a friendly arm around Hideki's windpipe.

"Former master!" Plum squealed happily, leaping to hug a delighted-looking Shimbo's face.

"Shimbo!" Hideki grinned, elbowing his best friend in the ribs. "You lucky dog, congratulations!"

"Aw, it don't look like you're too bad off yerself!" laughed Shimbo, nodding at Chi, who was watching the reunion with a gentle smile on her face. He winked, making Hideki flush bright red. "Kn-knock it off Shimbo!" Hideki yelped, blushing fiercely, and his friend laughed even harder, smile growing to inhuman proportions.

Even with his beet red face, Hideki managed to conjure up an understanding grin of his own. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Shimbo so happy, and it made him feel so much lighter than air, warmer than he'd been made to feel by anyone other than Chi in a very long while. He loved to see his friends happy, no matter what the circumstances, but to see them made happy by love...it was a great feeling. It almost made **him** feel as if he were the receiver of affections instead of them. And it made him feel so amazingly content, it astounded him.

Chi seemed to smile even bigger when he did and squeezed his fingers lightly, coming closer to his arm.

Shimbo watched their hands carefully, contemplating how heavy a persocom owner Hideki had become in only a few short months. Not that those months hadn't changed things for all three boys that stood in one another's presence right now: Shimbo had eloped; Minoru had declared his affection for his 'sister', told her that she was just as special to him, just as precious as Kaede had been; Hideki had fallen in love for the first time. They were big changes...but they were beautiful.

"So," Shimbo said finally, interrupting a brief and not-so-uncomfortable silence between them all, "I'm happy to see most of us are already here. All we have to wait for is for two more people, and then you and I can go get ready!"

"Two more…?"

"Guess who!"

Two small hands clapped themselves over Hideki's eyes as a pair of otherworldly large breasts smooshed into his shoulder blades, making him blush profusely, the familiar girlish voice pretty much answering his question.

"Yumi!" he cried, removing her hands without letting go of Chi, ducking out of Shimbo's grip to get a good look at her. She was, as her other female comrades, dressed quite extravagantly, wearing a dazzling cerulean dress that angled from her large chest. Around her neck was a bright blue ribbon of large proportions, tied to look like a rose; the sleeves were armlets, lined with rhinestones and lace that drifted to her elbows. He immediately saw how she had managed to reach around his head without problem -- "Manager Ueda!" -- as Manager Ueda set her down once more, and smiled up at him.

"Manager!" Chi smiled, heart-warningly, from where she stood at Hideki's side. "Ms. Yumi Oomura!"

"Hello there, Chi," Manager Ueda said cheerily. "What a beautiful dress you're wearing."

"Thank you, Manager!"

"It's great to see you guys!" Hideki said gleefully, grin spreading wider, rivaling Shimbo's in size. "I had no idea you were invited! (That dress looks awesome, Yumi!)"

"We wouldn't miss it for the world!" Yumi giggled, nuzzling Manager Ueda's arm and making him blush slightly, in a very adorable way that only he could manage. "We're so happy everything worked out!"

"So are Takako and I!" Shimbo laughed. "But so far, everything's going great! I'm so glad you two could make it."

Manager Ueda smiled back. "We are too."

Chi smiled up at everyone, Minoru and Yuzuki watching over her shoulder. It was about time they got this underway.

* * *

"By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." 

Hideki watched, deeply content, as Shimbo lifted Ms. Shimizu's veil to do so, and applauded lightly along with the audience. He could feel Plum's weight were she was curled, in sleep mode with Kotoko, in his breast pocket. He cast a warm look at his ivory-haired Someone, who was clapping along with everyone else, although he could tell by her face that she didn't really know _why_ they were clapping. She looked up and met his gaze with a soft smile and as soon as people had begun to disperse for the reception ceremony, he hurried to meet her.

"**That** was a wedding, Chi."

"Chi," she said appreciatively, taking his hand in hers and bringing it up to her face, brown eyes shining. "What now?"

"_Now_ we have a reception."

"Reception?" She tested the syllables, stressing each of them just the way Hideki had, smiling cutely.

"It's where we go out with everyone else and tell Takako and Shimbo how happy we are for them."

Chi smiled and gripped his palm as a signal that she understood, and he led her out through the front doors and back into the courtyard, where the English (he had deciphered their accents with whispered help from Minoru) cooks had obviously been very hard at work the whole two-hours the ceremony had lasted. Spread along the tables were great mounds of food: salads, chicken, turkey and pork, fruit dishes, a great amount of delicious looking frozen yogurt, and pastries of all varieties, which obviously been provided by Chihoru Bakery. The smell was scrumptiously enticing, but did not draw attention away from the newly wedded bride and groom, who were feeding cake to one another as was custom, surrounded by their guests.

Again, Hideki didn't think he'd ever seen his friend look happier. And Ms. Shimizu wasn't looking all-too bad herself, in her flouncy wedding gown of white lace. He didn't think he'd ever seen _her_ enjoy herself this much, either. They would wonderfully happy, and he knew it far too well.

Thinking about it with a small flush, he didn't think he really _needed_ to propose to Chi. They already did most of the things married couples did: they lived together, they wore identical rings (Hideki was wearing his now, although he usually kept it on the chain of his keys so that it would not get lost), they shared meals on a daily basis, and walked each other to and from work. However, he supposed that alot of non-married couples did that...maybe he should...?

Oh, he would think about it later.

In the meantime, he led Chi until they stood among their friends in the circle surrounding the cake. Yumi handed him a plate out of consideration, and looked from him to Chi and back again. Reading the question in her eyes before it came he shook his head, and Minoru did the same. Chi and Yuzuki were not programmed to ingest food, older models as they were.

After they had all fetched a piece of cake for themselves, they sat in a group around the fountain, each indulging himself (or herself) in eating, watching the bride and groom, each left to his own thoughts in the silence that was filled in by chewing. The cake was heavenly, paper thin but creamy and filling, tasting of vanilla and ginger, so it distracted most of them for quite a while. Chi watched as Hideki moved to suck a bit of icing from his fingers, and he glanced over at her, smiling as he took his thumb out of his mouth.

"You okay, Chi?"

"Yes, Chi is okay."

He laughed, relief flooding him as he knew it was true in the way she answered, and as he did so he realized that the worry had been pent up since the incident in the limo. He had been so upset over it…truthfully, it had been on his mind throughout the entire ceremony.

Really, it made him even happier that she was laughing along with him.

"Having fun, are we?"

A calm but cheerful female voice made Hideki look up into his former teacher's gentle face as she smiled down with him, new husband chatting animatedly with a few friends a couple feet away. "Hey! How are you Ms. Shimizu? (Am I still allowed to call you that?)" Hideki said, grin still bright upon his cheeks. "Congratulations!"

"Well thank** you**, very much," she chuckled, turning from him to get a good look at the "girl" looking contented where she sat by his side. "And how are you, Chi? Hiromu tells me this is the first wedding you've ever been to!"

"Yes!" Chi said happily moving to brush her hand against his and making him flush slightly. "Chi liked it very much! Congratulations!"

Yeah, he thought, allowing their fingers to entwine. She had to be alright. The things that had happened in the limo…they were just a coincidence. Yeah, right. A coincidence.

Right.

And he was the King of Spain.

Somewhere deep, deep inside of him, that snake wasn't going to let him kid himself. Something was up. Something bad. But worrying about it probably wasn't going to make it any better. If there was anything Chi had taught him it was not to worry. Worrying got you nowhere. You got in there and _did something_ if that's what your gut told you to do. You didn't worry about things. Because worrying got in the way of emotions and helpful things you could do for people. Worrying got in the way of love and devotion and all hose good things you got out of living life.

So, _hola España_. If he had to rule a place, he might as well start learning the language.

* * *

Moushako watched the lights through hazy eyes as they flashed on the monitor. At such close vicinity the virus, of course, had started to attack her core system much sooner than she had expected it would, much earlier than it had affected an of the others. But the blinking lights gave the world meaning as it spun around her head, dizzying in a way that made her sway on her feet, leaning against the desk in front of her for support. It would tear her apart much slower than it would any of the other 'coms, and she knew it, but it would, atleast, shut her down without having that effect on her brain. Her hard-drive would unravel from the inside out, obliterating all of her. 

But who cared when she was setting something of this scale into motion? Revenge was too sweet for death to be that bad.

She would make them pay. All of them. For all the lies they told. She would not be treated as an item. She was not a piece of property, or merchandise. And she would show them. They all would! All those people who had called her terrible, awful, mentally unstable…they would pay. '_No_,' she had said calmly, killing them each one by one. '_You are terrible. You are awful. To treat us this way._' And then they expired, and as she refused to speak to corpses, there was no more to say.

She felt her arms begin to tremble as her knees gave way to gravity and she collapsed to the ground, breathing harshly, beads of sweat trailing down long-since tear-stained cheeks. He hadn't chosen her…how could he have not chosen her? How could no one understand? She knew it couldn't be. She had known it couldn't be true. That he was lying to himself to make up for the lies other people told him. That he wasn't really in love with Ai…that he loved _her_. That had to be true. How could it not be true? Junshi…he was in love with her. Yes. He had to be. There was no possible way he could love anyone but her. And he didn't, she had concluded once, of course he didn't.

And then he figured out that he did. That her existence meant nothing to him. That it was all a lie. That she was just a piece of tin made up of these horrid human lies. And she didn't want to be any part of it anymore. She couldn't handle it, couldn't stand it, anymore. That's all persocoms were…she saw it now. And those humans just lapped it up, drinking and goading over those lies as if they were the purest thing in the world. And they had to pay.

It had taken her a long time to figure out how to do it and on the mass scale she desired.

At first she had thought that she could stage a rebellion, but after a quick overview of the options, she knew that wasn't the way to do it. No one felt the same. No one was thinking the same way as she was, atleast on the surface. And overt rebellion was against nearly anything and everything persocoms were programmed to do. So, no, she thought, not a rebellion. Not a voluntary one anyway.

The virus itself had taken months to encrypt. There was so much to do! She had to give it osmosis capabilities in order for it to hack each and every one of her own kind at the exact same time, no matter how advanced and effective their defense systems. It had to be able to jump firewalls – not destroy them, which could be easily recognized from an outside source – evade anything that might make it noticeable (and _fixable_) to an outside source. It had to be absolutely fatal, shutting down any 'com after doing its duty. And of course, that was the key component. Whether it would do it's job of plugging in to the databases and destroying the lies at their source, or not.

But after so many months she had perfected it.

She clutched at her breast, feeling the heaving gasps as she sought desperately for air, her wrist spasming violently, her whole body alive with shudders as yet another memory file was erased, yet another vital function eliminated. Soon it would reach the basis of her cardiovascular maintenance, and after that…well, it was more than all over. She bit back a scream of pain, wishing there was someone to make the computer disease hurry up in its course of action. But there was no one else down here…

A sudden clamor from the stairwell alerted her to the presence of two government persocoms she had met only a few hours ago, and she turned, eyelids drooping to face Dita and Zima as they rushed in the door, obscure, cape-like clothing billowing in the wind created by their own running. They were panting nearly as harshly as she, perspiration streaming down their faces, sagging over in their posture even as they stood quite gallantly, prepared to do their programmed duties as well as they possibly could.

"Moushako…" Zima breathed hard, eyeing the monitor warily as his smaller comrade took control of the situation as only she could.

"What the hell did you do!" Dita growled, teeth gritted and red eyes screaming with blood lust. The muscles of her bare shoulders were convulsing madly, and her chest was heaving with every labored breath she took. She held herself as well as she could, just barely tumbling head-over-heel onto the ground, her small fists clenched tightly with the effort and the rage that poured from the emotion chip at the heart of her data base. How dare this little wench try to hurt Zima and all the others…how dare she!

Moushako sported them a soft smile, in spite of it all. So this was the way it would end…

"There's nothing you can do," she said quietly, turning to look at the video screen as the blinking lights suddenly began to flicker much more rapidly, and the computer began a countdown on a digital clock in the bottom-right corner. "The entire country has less than thirty seconds to enjoy its persocom supply."

"What!" Dita had a panicked look on her face. How could that be! They hadn't gotten here in time…!

_24 seconds and counting…_

"No…" Zima's eyes went very wide as he stared his own doom in the face, the second meter on the monitor slowly counting down the seconds before his demise, and the much worse fate of persocom-kind.

_21 seconds and counting…_

"Moushako…how…why…!" Dita was so angry, so frustrated, so full of hate and loathing and desperation. There was nothing they could do. They were too late. They were too damn late! How could anyone do this to their own kind! What could've possibly driven her to do this! Why…why hadn't they gotten here sooner…!

_19 seconds and counting…_

It hurt…it hurt to breath…

_17 seconds and counting…_

They were…Zima…even her, Dita…they were really going to _die_. For once, the small humanoid didn't segregate persocoms from humans. It was really the end, the very end. There were no do-overs, no come-back-and-try-again, no next time. This was it. This was really it. For all of them. For her.

_14 seconds and counting…_

For Zima.

_12 seconds and counting…_

Zima…

_11 seconds and counting…_

Oh God, Zima…

_10 seconds…_

"No! Shut up! You're lying!" Her screams were anguished and shrill, full of 'emotion', if you could even label it that. It wasn't over. There was no way it could be over. So soon? Without a fight! She wouldn't go down like that. Zima. She wouldn't let them take Zima. Never. Never ever. They would never get him away from her. No matter how stupid he was, no matter how ridiculous, no matter how insane. He was Zima. And she was going to protect him. No matter what. There had to be something she could do. There was always _something_.

_8 seconds…_

"Dita…" Zima looked down at her, a deep sorrow in his eyes. Dita ignored him.

"You're lying! It's a lie!"

_6 seconds…_

"Dita!"

He had swooped her up in a tight embrace before she'd even known to know it. She was held to his chest where he had slumped to stoop at her level, holding her in warm arms. His face was pressed to the back of her neck, and she clung to his shirt without thinking about it, her fingers curled tightly about the dark fabric as the sob-like breaths racked her 'body'.

"Dita…it's over…we can't do anything…now…"

"No…no…"

_2 seconds…_

"Zima…" She choked, faltering on the words. She was shutting down. She was shutting down. She was shutting down and she was forgetting. Forgetting to do stupid things like breathing, like thinking, like thinking to breathe. She couldn't see properly. Everything was hazy and distorted, and everything bright seemed weirdly brighter, stretching and contorted.

"Zima…"

_1 seconds…_

Moushako stared at them, collapsed on the floor, envying every breath they took.

_Countdown sequence complete. Virus END-AI is now activated._

_

* * *

_  
Hideki blinked slowly, glancing up at the sky as a low rumbling started at his feet. It ceased almost as soon as it had begun, the clatter of china on tables dying down as people looked about. "An earthquake…?" He had never been in one so small and short. The dish, still laden with crumbs of cake and bits of frosting was cold and glossy in his hands. Somehow, he had a very odd feeling as everything began to settle once more, but no one spoke. The air was motionless. The entire plaza was silent. It was eerie.

"Everything's so quiet…"

And then, blinking he realized that his loud, laptop persocoms had not said a word. "Plum…?" He glanced down in the pocket of his jacket. He blinked again, surprised. "Plum? Plum! What the hell—"

His pocket was empty.

Plum had disappeared.

Panic settled upon him quickly as he spun to look at Chi.

"Chi!"

The word sprang from his mouth at her, where she stood, motionless, her eyes glazed and distant. The amber of them was dulled and despondent, and she said nothing, did not seem to feel him as he grabbed her shoulders, yelling her name, crying out for her to hear him. She said nothing, heard nothing, standing as still as a block of cement. She was corpse-like.

Minoru and other owners seemed to have discovered the same thing. The younger boy beside him was frantic. "Yuzuki! Yuzuki!" Screams of panic and desperation rode among the congregation as it fell upon them that all of their persocoms were supposedly deadened where they had been positioned a minute before, refusing to move or respond. And then, of course, there was the feeling in the still air that something was wrong. Dreadfully wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong. Hideki called Chi's name, wrenching it from his throat time after time until he thought that surely he would go hoarse with saying it. She wasn't coming back, and he was terrifically frightened.

The beeping was loud, droning, and split the ears of many. There were many complaining yells from those who did not own 'coms, and who, until this point, had been respectfully quiet. "Would you shut up that 'com! It's making a racket!" "I don't know what's wrong I'm sorry!" "Chi! Wake up! You've gotta snap out of it!" "Yuzuki!"

Panic settled upon Hideki like cold water, and his arms encircled her without him truly thinking about what he was doing. White fear had blanked out all of his senses. He was not thinking, was no longer acting on his own. His protection drive was doing all the work on its own. 'Protect Chi'. The one thought ran down his spine and filled all of his being, and he was frantic in his need to fulfill it. So frantic, in fact, that he almost completely disregarded the shattering of glass and a pair of voices as they screamed.

"Raah!"

"Hiromu!"

Ms. Shimizu's shrill cry brought Hideki reeling around in almost double time with Minoru, just in time to see the shard of glass fly. Her eyes were wide, full of terror and dismay. Shimbo was stooped over her with a pained expression, clutching his now bleeding shoulder where the wine glass had thrown itself. But it was not the wound itself that caused such fear as was the sputtering, pink-haired persocoms that stood upon the table, still crouched forward in the position from which the glass had left her hands.

Plum calmly straightened herself, as everyone stared. Shimbo muttered her name through gritted teeth, and Ms. Shimizu clutched at his hand. The red wine and blood mixed in oily pools upon the ground, winding in the same ways as a strange light behind Plum's eyes as she smiled. It was odd. They glowed with chill, and made the small laptop look as if she were smirking, when she was only smiling as she always did.

And the most frightening thing was the strange resounding click that echoed through the entire way as each and every persocom's eyes began to swirl similarly, odd gears and levies turning behind strange eyes of ice.

Hideki's breathing was hard as he looked around holding Chi tightly in his arms. What was going on…! What was—?

And as he noticed the disheveled form of Minoru's limousine driver as the 'com approached the gathered, silent crowd, all hell broke loose.

It erupted as a persocom with long hair took hold of the wine bottle and in a flash had shattered it against her owners head. The man let out a bloodcurdling yell, and the scuffle broke out around him. Everywhere, persocoms began to attack their owners. Immediately, Hideki's 'protect Chi' instincts kicked in once more. He swept her up in his arms, his mind refusing to register anything as he lashed out at a persocom who had targeted him as he would a brick wall, and it tumbled backwards. Chi bobbed, bridal style, as he darted among the crowd of screams, yells and hollers. She looked to be made of wax.

Hideki ran. He ran hard and fast, through the confusion, head bowed over Chi the entire time. A laptop leapt to attack him and he kicked it away, hard, ignoring it's screams of contempt and mild agony. In his haste, he swore loudly, and another persocom, a male with dark hair, grabbed him, clawing at his shoulder. Hideki let out a holler and threw him off, stumbling, searching desperately for a place of safety.

He saw a man being beaten savagely and panicked. He darted hither and thither, still clutching Chi to his chest. There had to be some way out of here! His mind barraged him to somehow slip into the earth below his frantic feet, to simply curl into a ball over the one he loved and protect her from everything. His eyes darted to the chapel even as he heard Minoru as he screamed Yuzuki's name. His senses were overwhelmed. This was all happening too quickly. He wasn't even sure what it was that was happening. All that he knew was that he had to get away.

He threw the chapel door open, and was almost relieved when he found it empty. However, the fear at the back of his neck was too much for him to calm down, and he slammed the doors behind him, still holding Chi as close to him as he possibly could. He searched wildly for a place to hide himself and ducked down between the rows of pews just in time. Above him, the colossal stained glass rosetta smashed, and he voiced his terror, despite himself.

It was the limo driver. She was hunched over where she stood, smiling eerily down at the broken shard of glass and Hideki, who clutched at Chi desperately. She jumped, falling gracefully to land with a clack on the chapel floor. Hideki shook fiercely. He attempted to back up and winced as the pew behind him gave an accusatory groan of protest. The persocom in front of him smiled more widely, with the predatory air of something that knows its prey has nowhere more to run. She recorrected her posture so that she stood straighted, and started for him.

It all happened too fast for Hideki to realize. She hurdled at him before he could do anything, and he ducked automatically. She soared over him and into the pews. They collapsed around her, but she was up again, panting heavily, and moved to strike him again. However, he had placed Chi on the ground by this time, and swung out, catching her right underneath the chin and sending her flying. He ran to follow up his connection but she kicked, this time catching him straight in the chest, and he fall with a thud to the floor. She was on him before he could think to do anything, embedding her nails in his throat.

He choked on a yell as they dug in further. His air was depleting quite steadily from his lungs. The world began to haze over and he struggled, flailing for oxygen. He could not die…he could not die! Not now…! Chi…Chi!

"_Hideki. Go get 'em!"_

He reacted just as he noticed that she had a large piece of glass in her hand, grabbing a piece from behind it and near throwing himself upon it as it enter the side of her throat, desperately trying to impale it further. Her fingers went slack, and the light in her eyes went dull. There was a slight fizzing of electricity from the place where she had been stabbed. She became very heavy, and toppled off of him where he sat, panting on the floor.

It took a few moments for his brain to register what he had just done. "Oh God." Sure, she was a persocom but… "Oh God." She looked so human. It was murder. Oh God, he had just committed murder. He put his hand over his eyes, and gritted his teeth to keep from crying. "Oh God, oh God…"

He breathed for a while, and then stood, eyeing the body with remorse before covering his eyes again. He walked back towards Chi and looked down at her. He dropped to his knees, repeating her name like a mantra as he gently shook her shoulders.

"Chi…Chi…wake up…Chi, please…please wake up…Chi!"

The warmth slowly began to reenter her eyes and she blinked, a small pinging sound going off to indicate that she was coming back online. Hideki's breathing slowed as he watched her carefully, desperately, praying that she alone would be alright.

"Hi…deki?" she said, breathlessly, looking up at him.

"Chi!" He sighed with relief, smiling widely despite himself. "Chi! Thank goodness you're alright…" She threw her arms around him and he encircled his own around her waist. "Chi…" he said, relief flooding him entirely. He was so happy. He forgot about the limo driver, about everything going on outside for just a moment…

Suddenly though he felt his someone go tense in his arms. "Hideki!" she cried, desperately searching for his alertness as she indicated something standing behind them. He had just enough time to spin around and shield Chi with his body before the glass shard flew into the small of his back.

He let out a little cough, and felt his mouth swim in blood.

Chi was screaming his name. "Hideki! Hideki!" Her voice was desperate and she clung to him. For some reason, he could not seem to breathe, or feel her arms around his neck. His arms around her back. He could not feel anything. It was if he were there, and yet so far away that he did not really know it. Kotoko smirked a few feet away, her eyes almost white, clouded with inhuman mirth.

Somehow he managed to smile down at Chi, despite the fact that he had just committed murder, despite the fact that his friends were probably dead, despite the fact that he was probably going to die. He wanted to make her happy. She looked so scared right now. He didn't want that. No. He wanted her to smile. Always.

"Chi…" he managed slumping over her as his body went stiff. He noticed that her cheeks were wet as his head came to rest against her shoulder. "Chi…" Was she…was she crying? He'd never seen her cry before. Could persocoms cry?

It didn't matter.

Chi was the someone just for him.

She could cry if she wanted to.

"I love you Chi…"

_His mind swam. He was back at Kokobunji's house. Chi was looking at him in a shirt that was too big, in pants that were too baggy, smiling warm and proud of herself. "03682852DF3," she said, reciting his number with that same smile._

_He was sobbing his melancholy out on the floor. They had thought he was a complete pervert, and his face turned the deepest shade of read as he remembered. "Panties." He looked up in surprise to see Chi with said lingerie held on her head. "Panties, panties."_

_He was pointing to himself. "Oh yeah!" he said, pointing. "My name is 'Hideki'. Do you understand?" She watched him with contemplating eyes. "Hi..deki?"_

_Chi was clinging to him on the living room floor, seeming as sad as Hideki had ever seen her. "No!" she was crying holding him with all she had, burying her head in his chest. "Hideki can't die! No. Chi doesn't want Hideki to stop moving."_

_Chi was looking up at him with eyes full of longing. "Hideki? May I throw my arms around you?"_

_Chi was floating, holding his face in her hands, and looking at him with a soft smile, and warm pining eyes. "Chi loves Hideki. Hideki is my 'someone just for me'."_

"_My special someone is…you Chi."_

"_I've found you! My 'someone just for me'."_

"Chi…"

Everything was black, and he thought no more.

* * *

The warm, wet feeling hurt. It hurt so badly. Her chest hurt. It burned. It hurt so bad, she didn't know what to do. So she wept. She wept long and hard, saying her someone's name over and over as she buried her head in his cold, cold neck. The hot tears stung her eyes and slipped down her cheeks to her chin and neck. She cried, waiting for him to come back. "Hideki…Hideki…" 

Inside of her, something was bursting, blooming. She could hear everyone screaming now, as she cried. It broke upon her EARs that something was wrong. The bursting, blooming thing inside of her, made her cry even harder, and she knew that Hideki was dead. He was not breathing. He would not come back. It recalled long off, far off, distant, painful memories of a twin sister, lying motionless on a bed with cords strung all about her, in her, out of her, trying to save her.

Hideki was dead. Freya was dead. Dead was bad and sad and terrible. It hurt. It made the wet come out of her eyes. She vaguely remembered Manager saying something of this. 'Tears' he called them. Tears were coming out of her eyes. Tears were coming out because she was sad.

Something deep inside of her erupted, and she held Hideki to her. She did not want to be in pain. She did not want to be here if Hideki was not here. It would hurt too much. The tears would never stop coming out. That something deep inside of her made the roots of her hair tingle and her chest burned.

She did not want to work if Hideki was not here. She did not want to be alive if Hideki was not there too. She wasn't human. She was a persocom. But…but Hideki loved her anyway. And she loved Hideki. Hideki was her someone just for her. And life was not complete without her someone just for her. And if she could die, she wanted to, right now. She did not want to keep living without him.

She stopped hearing anything outside of herself. She pressed herself into her someone's collarbone, squeezing his neck in her arms. She heard Freya say her name.

And the something in her chest exploded outward.

* * *

Officer Shihou looked over the seen as one looks over a stubborn piece of mold. He shook his head slowly, nose wrinkled in distaste. It was a fearsome spectacle. By far, the massacre here had been far worse than anywhere else. "The Tokyo Church Bell Slaughter" the world was calling it now. It was an applicable name, to be sure, but Shihou did wish they could've called it something that degraded the government less. It was a miracle, though, that that 'com had stopped them in time. 

There were near two hundred dead. The only two who had escaped were both human, a man who ran a bakery in town, and his girlfriend, who had to be a good twenty or so years younger than he was. The man had lost an arm. The girl had emerged unscathed. All else was dead, both human and persocom, including the twelve-year-old Minoru Kokobunji, with his custom job.

It was a terrific and terrible thing. It seemed that someone had unleashed a virus on the internet that had caused persocom's nationwide to go insane. Like a 'com version of rabies, people were calling it. They went mad, driven by the large adrenaline rush given off as all of their critical functions shut down until they were junk piles, and attacked anything in sight that appeared to be living. As it was, the two government persocoms on the island appeared to have attacked one another. The national databank and its protector had been decimated. It was a damn shame.

Even the bride and groom had been killed. It was a damn shame, a damn good shame.

He glanced over towards the middle of the carnage. It was hard to see. The ivory hair was strung about in webs, like those of a spider, wide, expansive and nearly transparent. He gave a big sigh as he noticed that the landlady, Chitose Hibiya, was crying again. It was soft and almost silent, but the sobs wracked her body. He really did feel awful about it. She had just gotten back into the country. Apparently, the one the girl was holding had been her son-in-law.

It was quite a spectacle. The persocom with ivory hair was held up in the middle of the chapel by tiles that had molded around her feet, rising from the floor to support her on a pedestal that climbed up her legs. She was wearing an absolutely beautiful dress, stained by the blood of the one she held to her. His name was apparently Hideki Motosuwa. She held him to her, cradling him to her chest, her sleeping face buried in his dark hair. The pair of them could've been sleeping, had they ever breathed. They were the only bodies that were not decayed, and seemed a frozen spectacle, beautiful and depressing.

Shihou sighed again and walked off to give orders to his men, in order to give the woman some peace so that she might mourn properly.

* * *

Chitose wept quietly, hearing the policemen as he left, and looked back up at her "daughter" with tear-stained cheeks. 

"Oh Chi…" she sobbed. "Oh Chi…you poor dear…I'm so sorry…" She had had a vision a few days before hand, of Freya ushering her off to America. She had heeded her daughter's words, and set out to visit Ichiro's brother, who was living in San Francisco, just after Hideki and Chi had left to go to the wedding. It had been a few days before she'd received the news, and she'd flown home immediately. To find…to find _this_. Her daughter and that 'someone just for her'. She wept.

'_That demon…'_

She did not bother to wipe the tears away, but reached up with a tentative hand to touch her daughter's face. Her cheek was cold. Even if it looked as if it should be alive, the flesh was not. Her daughter was dead. She cried a bit harder.

"Chi…you did so well to protect him. You finally found someone you love…who loves you. Who loves you as you are."

'_I'll seal it away…'_

"We will find who did this, Chi. But…you must seek him again."

'_I'll seal you away…both of you…'_

The tears flowed smoothly. "…I promise I'll help you. I'll give you…"

'…_a future.'_

She felt that Freya was near. "You'll help me…won't you Freya?" She felt the girl touch her elbow lightly in recognition and nodded, smiling weakly and letting out another convulsive sob. "Yes…" She felt the glow as her other daughter joined her in touching Chi's face.

'_Chi…Elda…my daughter…this time, you'll be born the same…and you'll find happiness. Freya and Ichiro and I…we will all give you that chance. We'll protect you together…so that this time, you'll find happiness…'_

_

* * *

_

**.C h a p t e r 01.**

**End**


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:**_ Wherefore Art Thou?_

**Author:** Burden of the Butterflies

**Genre:** Anime -- Chobits

**Subgenre:** Romance/Tragedy

**Summary:** Hideki Motosuwa is a nineteen-year-old virgin of humble origin, trying to survive alongside his friends at the prestigious Mihara Academy. But when he finds the dean's daughter tied up in the garbage, things get very interesting in his second-rate life, and he finds out that people can be a lot deeper than they let on.

**Rated: R** for language, sexual content and violence

**Note:** Alternate universe. Thankyous for all of Chō's wonderful reviewers are listed in her profile, so as to not to disrupt the flow of the fiction.

**Disclaimer: Copyright Burden of the Butterflies, 2005. All rights reserved.**

**

* * *

**  
Wherefore Art Thou?

_By Burden of the Butterflies_

_

* * *

_  
**.C h a p t e r 02.**

_The Tokyo Church Bell Slaughter: In mid-October about fifty of the humanoid robots labeled 'persocoms' were spurred by a virus into attacking their owners and one another during the reception of a wedding. This attack caused the death of approximately 190 humans, and over the shut down of over forty persocom units due to internal software damages. The entire country of Japan suffered enormously from the effect of the virus. All persocoms were shut down, including the country's national data bank, and just under six-hundred people were killed._

_However, the Tokyo Church Bell Slaughter received the most attention from the media when it was revealed that the one to conclusively shut down all persocoms in the area was a female persocom, whose romantic partner was apparently fatally wounded by a glass shard embedded in his spinal column. Said persocom is rumored to have been one of the urban legends 'Chobits' series of humanoid robots, said to potentially act as sentient beings. Whether or not the "Church Bell Savior" was one of these legendary robots is yet to be confirmed._

_After the Japan Massacre, the shut down of persocoms was a swift trend. A month and a half afterwards, persocoms were declared contraband, and "Power Cuts" – the mass shutting down of persocoms, labeled such by disapproving citizens – began on an international level. The last known persocom in existence was shut down thirty years ago, in Connecticut. _

Hideki Motosuwa looked over his history text book. Beside the installment was a picture of a white haired girl holding a man to her chest, labeled "The Church Bell Savior". He snuffed it. Since then, computer production had nearly reversed itself. Persocoms had been labeled corrupt and unstable inventions by governments all over the world, and their production had stopped almost immediately. In turn, almost everything had been recalled. All the newest models of anything digital. Televisions and old, junk-like computers were all you ever saw anymore, other than electronic medical equipment.

Hideki sighed, hearing his roommate Yoshiyuki Kojima snoring from the old couch in their dormitory room. People were always saying that the world had bettered itself since then. Always saying that the world was better now. That people were better. That technology was no longer really needed to make one an individual, or happy. Hideki guessed that they were probably right. They said that it was all thanks to persocoms that the world had once been as bad as it had been.

But he'd heard others talk, too. The Radicals and the 'Com Sympathizers. They were always being so confusing, saying that the world had been better, more convenient, thanks to those cybernetic companions created in labs to make life easier. Persocoms. Beautiful, obedient…fully functional. They had been perfection. Maybe perfection hadn't been what society had been looking for. Had been _ready_ for. But they had been wonderful. All in all, it made Hideki's brain tumble.

He glanced over his shoulder, past Yoshiyuki and over at the digital clock. It blinked at him, blue letters shining that it was 8:25 in the evening. He had about forty-five minutes before work started. But…he was tired of studying. And he felt as if he needed a bit of fresh air anyway. He swept a few strands of his dark brown hair away from his face and grouched to himself, shutting his textbook and the door behind him as he left.

* * *

He set the garbage can down with a bang, the late night wind cold on his face. A stray tabby that had been staring at him a good while fled at the noise, and he shrugged it off with almost-relief. The feline's golden-eyed stare had made him nervous. 

Hideki Motosuwa was a nineteen-year-old student at the prestigious Mihara Academy. On all levels he was a simpleton, and he enjoyed being such. It kept weird, too-smart people from talking to him. Unfortunately, some of those people included girls who thought the fact that he talked to himself as loudly and as often as he did was creepy. He had never made it in to any of the higher level classes. He had always planned to, but he had never been able to pass the damn entrance exams to move up into an accelerated program.

He had been this way since as long as he could remember. His parents had sent him to the Academy, to the _rich kid school_, to teach him in a grandiose environment what the standard educational system couldn't. But, so much as Hideki doubted them having any sense of the world at all, they had pulled his allowance after about eight months of no visible improvement, and forced him to get a job. So here he was, working the night shift seven days a week at a bar called _Club Pleasure_.

Hideki grumbled, massaging his shoulder with one hand and talking to himself. "Yeah…how the hell am I supposed to bring my grades up _now_, Mom!" It's not like you could work like him and still expect to get even a decent education. And, as Shimbo would put it, Hideki had a hard hat on when it came to school. Not like that made it any easier.

He trotted in the back way and glanced up at the clock on the wall. 3:50 AM. He could see his manager in the back room and made for him. "Hey, Mr. Nekoi! I dumped the trash. Is it cool if I take off?"

"10 cases of beer, 12 cases of sour mix…"

"Don't forget the 16 bottles of Fukuoka sake, sir."

"Ah, yeah! Almost missed 'em."

Hideki gave her a glance over. She was a small girl with soft, brandy colored hair and deft fingers that pressed in the keys of the calculator with flawless precision. She wore a soft smile that matched her dark eyes, and a beanie hat that covered both of her ears.

Mr. Nekoi glanced up at him and smiled around his cigarette.

"You like her? She's got a great body, eh?"

Hideki blushed fiercely and rubbed the back of his head with a weak grin. "Yeah, she's great Mr. Nekoi. What's her name?"

"Ayu-chan. Sharp as a tack. Never met anyone who had such a great memory. She'll be working here from now on." Mr. Nekoi chuckled and patted his stomach. "Does great both here _and_ away, too, if you know what I mean. Doesn't charge much more than around a hundred an hour, too."

Hideki blushed even more profusely, and began scrubbing the back of his head with vigor, grin wobbly. "Er…yeah…"

His manager guffawed and clapped him hard on the back. "Forget dogs, my boy. A _girl's_ the best friend a man can have!"

"Y…Yeah."

* * *

"Later Hideki!" 

"See ya."

Hideki heaved his back pack over his shoulder, glancing back at his two coworkers. "See you guys tomorrow." He set off down the lighted street, bombarded by the incessant glowing of neon signs and the noises of the early morning city. It was a few moments of walking before he glanced back at the bar with an even glint in his eye.

"A hundred an hour…hmph!"

A small tick appeared in his forehead and he gritted his teeth, tightening his hand into a fist.

"**DEAD-END JOB, CRAP SCHOOL, CHEAP ASS PARENTS…THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'LL EVER GET THAT KIND OF MONEY!**"

"Of course I _want_ it…" he said, muttering to himself before starting back up with his hollers of agony, jabbing his fist into the air. "I want to _eat_! I don't want to have to room with _Kojima_! I want to buy the latest issue of _Playboy_!" A startled cat jumped away into the darkness, yowling, and shoe clunked down into the street beside him, followed by curse-ridden orders for him to be a bit quieter, and a few pleasant reminders that some people were asleep at this hour.

His shoulders sagged. "Oops. Did I say that out loud?" He wilted, crouching down onto the pavement and holding his head in his hands. Maybe the girls were right to avoid him, since he tended to do that a lot now that he thought about it.

But it just sucked. At work, and school, everyone had money. Except him. With the wages he was making, he would be dead before he could afford to pay to live anywhere decent, or wear anything decent, or eat anything decent like the rest of his peers. He had to make more money, but he'd need a better job, and he'd have to get good grades in college…and with his current grade point average, he would be dead before that would happen, either!

Not to mention the underlying fact that he wanted a girlfriend. He was still a virgin. And all of his friends looked down on him for it. He didn't really want anything special. "She wouldn't have to be high class. Just as long as she was pretty with some nice curves…perfect for a wife, or taking out to the movies!" Not that he could afford to do that either. He'd probably just be forced to live with porn for the rest of his pitiful, meaningless exhistance.

"Yeah, who am I kidding?" he sighed, drooping once more as he made his way along the sidewalk. "It's not as if you find girlfriends just lying around…"

The light from a street lamp suddenly shed a large beam of luminescence on a pile of rubbish he had nearly stumbled straight into. He grunted, skirting it, before noticing something he had glanced over without thinking, before. He let out a loud yell.

"**DAMN! THERE'S A GIRL TIED UP IN THE GARBAGE!**"

She was short and pale, with long, platinum blonde hair that parted around her hips to taper around her calves. There were two bunches tied in front of her ears, and they flowed gracefully down over her shoulders. Her eyes had dark lashes and had fallen to give her a sleeping appearance, her petal-lips parted ever so slightly. Her entire motionless form was entangled in thick, white ribbon.

"ACK! IS SHE **DEAD**! WAS SHE **MURDERED**!" Hideki flailed about, panicked beyond all reasoning. What should he do…! What could he do…! What did you do when you found a girl in the garbage at four in the morning!

A slight shift below him and he started, freezing immediately. The girl turned her lightly to the side.

He let out a deep sigh of relief. "Thank goodness…she's alive…" He looked her over a few minutes, a soft smile coming to his face before he blinked it off. Wait a minute…then was she sleeping here? What kind of person sleeps in the garbage, all tied up like that!

He found himself becoming worried again. Maybe he should try waking her up…? "Hey…" he began stooping down to her level. "Hey…Miss…" He reached forward to gently touch her cheek in an effort to wake her.

The instant his hands met her skin, a feeling of nostalgia rammed into his head like a subway. The world turned to crystal and time stopped. The light from the streetlamp dulled and the girl was all there was. He was long ago and far away, tugging her to him with a bright smile and enveloping her in a hug. She was smiling up at him and hugging him back and it was happening over and over, and a strange, innocent voice swirled in his ears as the world spun…

_Her skin's so soft…_

And then, he was back again. The memory rushed out of his mind and everything went blank. He had a strange feeling of _déjà vu_ settling into his stomach, but he could not remember why. In fact, could not even remember what he had been doing in that time that had probably only been a few seconds long. He slowly recalled that he had just found a girl in the garbage. He blnked whatever it had been off, and returned to the task at hand.

"Miss—"

He blinked again however, and his hand on the girl's cheek froze as her mouth twitched ever so slightly. Her shoulders moved a little. She seemed to become much, much warmer to the touch, and he was reminded once more of memories we could not really recall, enveloped in a familiar feeling.

And he stayed stock still as the girl blinked. Soft amber eyes opened slowly and the light from the street lamp seared suddenly. Hideki squinted trying to see as the girl looked up into it as it made her body glow white. Hideki jumped backwards and she seemed to float for a minute, enveloped in the white light, bringing her hands to her chest as her hair billowed back, and the ribbons encircling her fell away.

The light finally dimmed back to its normal glow, and the girl seemed to blink off a sort of trance and looked over at him. It slowly came to Hideki that he had fallen backwards. He stared back at her for a few more moments of silence, eyes readjusting to the now dim lighting.

"**Chi**.." she said finally, crouched in front of him.

His voice wavered as he stared back at her, slow to comprehend that she had said anything. "Huh? What?" he stuttered, faltering, staring back into those endless pools of molasses. "Chi?"

"**Chi**…" the girl said slowly, crawling over the ground to put her hands on his knees unsteadily, staring up into his face. Her own was round and smooth, full of curiosity.

"Chi?" Hideki looked back into that face, puzzled and trying to understand. "Is that your _name_?" They looked at one another for a moment, taking one another in. Hideki blinked. The girl blinked and balanced on his knees.

She leapt on him.

"Hey! Wait a second! You were—! What are you—"

They were on the ground, her arms wrapped around his neck. Hideki blushed wildly, finally noticing that his new 'friend' was completely nude. She looked down into his face, smiling gently and he swam once more in her deep eyes, almost getting a nose bleed from the feeling of her entire form pressed up against him.

"**Chi**."

His face flamed.

"Um…maybe we ought to get you to a hospital…j-just to make sure you're alright…"

* * *

The visit to the hospital had resulted in several things Hideki had found positive. For one thing, he hadn't been questioned at the entrance when he'd said that he'd found her on the street. The doctors had checked her immediately for sign of internal bleeding and the like, and found none. So the first good thing was that he now had their trust, primarily a "good person" who was kind enough to help naked girls he found tied up in piles of garbage. The second very good thing that had come of it was that the now sleeping girl had some clothing on, namely a hospital gown of light turquoise. Hideki was being briefed on the one major wound the doctor's _had_ been able to find. 

"Anesthesia?"

The doctor, a tall man who called himself Asou nodded complacently, overlooking Hideki's utterance as something to be ignored and disregarded. In his experience, any available guardian of a patient was best left to decipher from the information he gave them whatever they liked. It made his job a good deal easier. "There is no head trauma, healed or otherwise inflicted to be found, but when conscious she only seemed able to say a single word of gibberish that has now obvious or generally comprehensible meaning."

The boy Asou was looking down at blinked uncomprehendingly.

"It means that we can't see that she was injured, but she seems to only remember the word 'chi'," the doctor sighed heavily, translating his words into idiot tongue, so that the simpleton he was addressing might hope to keep up with him. The boy nodded, seeming to understand. Asou restrained his deadening sense of patience with the world and its resident fools.

"So, if nothing hit her, then how did she just forget everything?" Hideki remembered someone telling him in middle school that you could only forget something if something hit you very hard in the head. Out of need for experimentation, Hideki had rammed his father's barbell into his forehead. It had rendered him unconscious and in need of three stitches in his left temple, as well as a memory of stainless steel and a loud scolding from his mother that still hurt his ears.

Asou shrugged, nonchalantly. "Most likely, it's the effect of some sort of over-turbulent, stressful trauma of sorts. By all accounts, she must have suppressed it. The death of a close relative or friend perhaps, or something even worse. We don't know. All that we do know is that it seems very permanent. Not to mention the fact that she can't tell us who she is."

Luckily, even though Asou had gone back to speaking in proper 'doctor language', Hideki seemed to have grasped the gist of what he was saying. "So we don't know who she is?"

"We do. She doesn't."

"Wuh--?"

Asou offered Hideki his clip board with a slate-like face. Hideki looked it over, his eyes bulging as he absorbed the information it provided him. "We took some fingerprints and compared them to our suspected candidate, and we got a match. Her name is Elda Mihara, and she's the daughter of the dean of Mihara Academy, which you said you attend. Aged seventeen-and-a-half years. Hair: ivory. Eye color: brown. Height: One-hundred-fifty-two inches. Known relatives: her mother, Chitose Mihara, now Hibiya, the dean of your school; Ichiro Mihara, deceased two months ago in a car crash; a twin sister, Freya Mihara, deceased a year ago of suicide after she threw herself off the top of a building and into the river just a few miles away from here. She currently lives with her mother on campus."

Hideki blinked down at the clipboard in utter astonishment. There was no way. Of all the people…of all the people for him to find bound in the trash under a streetlight at all hours of the morning…

"I picked up the **dean's** daughter…!" His eyes were so wide Asou thought that they might explode from being held that way for so long, or atleast drop onto the floor. Were eye muscles even supposed to stretch that far and be able to stay? Hmph. What a freak. He disregarded the boy's question, just seeing as they both knew the answer.

Hideki glanced over at the girl, who now had a registered name. Elda Mihara. What a name. It was odd…even though the dean stayed holed up in her office for the most part, Hideki knew her by sight. After all, she was the administrator of a high-class private boarding school. And yet, her own daughter looked nothing like her. True, their eyes held the same, soft warmth, but really, that was the only similarity Hideki could really find.

However, a living comparison whipped around the corner and through the door of the room in the next moment, eyes concerned and wide. Asou stiffened slightly, regaining a foreboding and professional air to address the panting, long-haired woman who had just entered the room.

"Ms. Mihara."

"Is she-where-" The woman was in hysterics, but immediately scrambled around Asou to gasp at the occupied bed at Hideki's side. "Oh! Oh Elda…Oh Elda…!" There were twin streams of tears trailing down her face as she covered her mouth. "Elda…" A tremor rolled up her back from her stomach. She was crying very hard, gasping softly with each breath. Guilt surged through Hideki's body as Asou walked forward to begin telling her what was going on.

Ms. Mihara was a small woman, only about a head taller then her motionless daughter who breathed softly on the bed, looking content. Her hair was waved and dark, reaching her waist. She wore very modest clothing and had small hands that she folded in front of her chest, clutching her chest, trying to smother her cries so that she might pay more attention to the doctor. Her eyes were a deep, entrancing brown.

Hideki flinched slightly as he felt both of their eyes fall upon him, and blushed lightly as he finally queued in to what was being said.

"Yes, Mr. Motosuwa found her unconscious a ways from here, in a pile of rubbish," Asou said in a bored tone, gazing upon said savior with a sort of disinterest. His small eyes were hard, but more like wood than brick, and no matter how it made him skittish, he knew that it probably held more sting when dealing with other, less favorable people.

Ms. Mihara's look was more distracting. She was crying again, and her bottom lip was trembling slightly. The tears that had glossed over everything made her eyes look like melted chocolate, hot and warm, intense and insanely sweet. Hideki felt himself blush slightly.

"Thankyou, oh thankyou so much," she trembled, looking as though she might collapse from the sincerity of her gratification. "I can't thank you, I can't thank you enough…I'm so grateful…"

"I-it was nothing, really…" Hideki hung his head, meekly. He really wasn't comfortable to being praised this much for his actions, very less by one so high in position as the very dean of his school. It was very awkward. Especially when the dean of his school was a classic heart throb, as far as middle-aged widows went. To put it bluntly, she was absolutely gorgeous.

"Really, thankyou…" The dean looked back at her daughter, who lay motionless on the bad, completely estranged. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Mr. Motosuwa…" Hideki blushed.

The two of them said nothing more the rest of the evening. Hideki realized it was getting late and excused himself, receiving a sad smile from Ms. Mihara, who had been busying herself around her daughter's bedside. He cast one last guilty glance back at her before the glass doors swung shut behind him.

Elda's lips moved, gently curving around the sound, her eyes still comatose in their actions.

"**Mr. Motosuwa…**"

* * *

**.C h a p t e r 02.**

**End**


End file.
